Sport-Blog.com

In the year of the steroid scandal and subsequent decline in homers across the major leagues, the Texas Rangers are on the verge of setting a new standard for homeruns by a team for a 162-game season.

Saturday night, Mark Teixeira pasted his 43rd homer of the season, a new career high for the first baseman, giving the Rangers 257 homeruns for the season. That matched the 1996 Baltimore Orioles for the second-best total in major league history, seven behind the record set by the 1997 Seattle Mariners.

Texas has essentially done it with team balance. Though Teixeira is among the league leaders and second baseman Alfonso Soriano has slammed 35 on the season, the Rangers have seven players with 20 or more homers and ten players in double figures on the season. Every member of the infield, including catcher Rod Barajas, has at least 20 homers while four different outfielders have at least 16, beginning with right fielder Richard Hidalgo.

The Rangers however completely reflect the notion that pitching is the key element in baseball. The strong hitting team has scored the third most runs in all of major league baseball but is still a distant third in the Western Division of the American League, three games under five hundred as the season comes to a close.

With seven games left in 2005 and the team averaging 1.7 homers per game, the major league mark is well within the Rangers reach. Texas will play four games against two of the best pitching staffs in the American League, Oakland and Los Angeles, and three against the Seattle Mariners. The Rangers will also close the season at home, giving the team a chance to set the mark before the Texas fans.